


Pocketses

by Zhie



Series: A Dash of Romance [4]
Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-05
Updated: 2017-02-05
Packaged: 2018-09-22 03:46:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9581909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zhie/pseuds/Zhie
Summary: Flirting can be difficult if it's been a while.  Erestor and Glorfindel give it a go anyhow.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [keiliss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/keiliss/gifts).



“Excuse me, Captain, would you happen to have a spare quill?”

Glorfindel looked up when he heard the knock on the door, but did not expect to see Erestor there. Since taking on the position at the barracks of chief instructor – for Glorfindel learned that none of the former instructors remained from prior to the war – he spent long hours at the barracks during the day, mirroring the time that Erestor spent with his students in the library. Only once had Erestor come to visit him, and it was on the second day, more to know where to find Glorfindel in case of an emergency, or so it seemed. The last days of the year were upon them, and with their schedules and Erestor’s habit to work late, Glorfindel did not expect to see him more than a few mealtimes before the Yule celebration.

Glorfindel therefore nodded slowly upon seeing the figure standing in the doorway and lifted the feather pen from its holder on his oak wood desk. Erestor smiled and entered the office, politely nodding to Elladan in the chair to the side. “And, would you happen to have a scrap of paper?” he asked as he took hold of the quill and leaned over the desk to dip it into the pot of ink.

With a smile playing on his lips, Glorfindel quickly opened the side drawer and took out a full sheet of parchment. He folded it in half, and half again, and tore off a quarter. As he held it between two fingers, he lifted it up and offered it to Erestor. “Will this do?” he asked.

“Perfect. Hello, Elladan,” he added, acknowledging his great-nephew. Elladan nodded back as he watched the exchange between his elders. Erestor bent elegantly at the waist and wrote something on the paper in his terrible scrawl. He stood back up and waved the slip of paper back and forth to dry it quickly. “Now, the final inconvenience to you this afternoon, sir – do you have a pocket I might use?”

“A…” Glorfindel leaned back in his chair and tilted his head. Since his arrival, he and Erestor had become close friends. Much time was spent together, though Glorfindel secretly still hoped for something more. The unusual request caught him off-guard. He glanced at Elladan, who simply looked amused.

“A pocket.” Erestor was still standing before the desk. “A small piece of fabric sewn onto a garment in order to serve as a place to put things which one wishes to carry with them without the use of their hands.”

“Yes, I got that.” Glorfindel studied Erestor a moment before he pulled the left panel of his vest to the side. On most office days, Glorfindel dressed in a courtly fashion, but he had been up late the night before, working on gifts for the family for yuletide. Trousers and a tunic seemed far too simplistic as he tried to rush out of the house, and the vest at least made him feel mostly presentable in the event an emergency council was called. There was a pocket sewn into the interior of the vest in addition to the two usual pockets vests had on the outside. “Take your pick,” he offered, still seeming quite uncertain as to what was going on.

Erestor folded the slip of paper once, used his nails to smooth the crease, and then placed one hand on the edge of the desk. He leaned over the desk, on the tips of his toes to reach the pocket on the inside of Glorfindel’s vest. Without breaking eye contact, he concealed the note slowly in the pocket, tugged the side of the vest out of Glorfindel’s grasp, and patted it back in place. “Thank you.” He stood up properly then, smoothed out his robes, and gave Elladan a nod of his head before he turned and left the office.

As soon as the door was closed, Elladan folded his hands and placed them behind his head. “That was unexpected,” he said while Glorfindel retrieved the note from his pocket, read it, nearly giggled, and placed it back. “So… forgive the intrusion, but I did not know the two of you were…” He let it hang and waited for confirmation.

“We are not. Not at the moment. Not yet.” Glorfindel scratched his shoulder and looked at the now closed door. There was nothing he could do to hide his red cheeks, so he did not try. “I apologize. I completely forgot what we were discussing.”

“We can pick it up again tomorrow. I promised Arwen that I would help her make yule gifts today, and she is probably chomping at the bit with mother over it.” Elladan stood up and stretched, dressed far more formally than Glorfindel. “Perhaps I shall see you in the Hall tonight.” With the cold weather settling in, most of the family from the small house spent time at the main house in the Hall of Fire. It was a warm and invigorating place, and if nothing else, it was serving to help Glorfindel learn the names of the other people who lived in the valley.

“A fair assumption,” agreed Glorfindel as he stood up as well.

“Maybe I can bother you about that mystery note,” said Elladan with a wink.

“You may not need to ask,” replied Glorfindel as he felt his cheeks burning again.

A few hours later, Glorfindel crossed the Hall of Fire, where all of the windows were frosted over, and every one of the great fires was lit. He had considered pausing in the library to find something to read before the unexpected intrusion into his office, but now there seemed to be nothing to do but answer the strange summons. In fact, he was giddily looking forward to it, and found the hours seemed to pass far slower than he thought they should that day.

The intruder in question was sitting beside one of the windows, sipping from a glass of mulled wine. Glorfindel approached slowly, less for dramatics and more due to his inability to figure out exactly what to say when he arrived at his destination. Carefully, he took the note from his pocket, unfolded it, and read it out loud once he was close enough to speak without others nearby hearing his voice:

 

_Roses are red, Violets are purple  
Elrond asked me if I planned to bring anyone to the celebration, and if you were not already attending, I would have asked you to accompany me. Since I do not actually know if you are involved with anyone or not, consider this note an invitation to have drinks with me tonight if you indeed are free. I would very much enjoy your company tonight in the Hall. -Eres_

 

Erestor sipped his drink. “I find myself a student of free verse. Rhyming is so second age.”

Glorfindel could not hold in his laughter, and chuckled as Erestor moved to one side of the window seat. “What prompted you to write such fine poetry?” he asked as he accepted a second glass that Erestor had waiting for him.

“Lindir dared me to do it.”

“I will have to thank Lindir when I figure out which one he is,” said Glorfindel. “What prompted him to dare you?”

“We were in the library earlier and the conversation came around to you.” Erestor was not one to be shy; in fact, he was quite forthright in council, so it was only slightly shocking for Glorfindel to hear him say, “He might have encouraged me to approach you sooner, but we were both convinced you just had to have a companion somewhere. It was Celebrian who mentioned you were unattached. I do hope she did not betray your trust by revealing that.”

Glorfindel smiled slightly, his hands wrapped around the wine glass. “I was not aware that it was a secret.” 

“Secret or not, Lindir has pestered me the better part of the week. Today we caught some of the younger scholars writing stories about you.”

“Stories about me?”

“Detailing your fictitious love life with them. Younglings do that sort of thing,” excused Erestor when he saw how mortified Glorfindel appeared. “However, Lindir noted my reaction to them was something a little.. fiercer than necessary. That was when he dared me to do what I did – to come over to your office and invite you for a drink. When I saw Elladan in the office… I admit, I found myself temporarily tongue-tied and I decided to get creative.”

“I appreciated creativity.” Glorfindel sipped the wine and then decided it would be completely acceptable if he moved just a little closer to Erestor. “So… which one is Lindir?”

Erestor chuckled and motioned to Lindir in his usual spot, standing close to the doors. “That one in the crimson robes, right over there.”

Glorfindel scanned the group that Erestor motioned to. “Excuse me a moment.” He handed the glass to a puzzled looking Erestor and strolled through the crowd in the Hall until he reached his destination.

From Erestor’s view, he saw Glorfindel excuse himself into the conversation in order to pull Lindir aside. Erestor stood up to get a better view. Once the minstrel had given Glorfindel his full attention, Glorfindel asked something with a bit of a hand motion in Erestor’s direction. Lindir pulled a face and shook his head. There was a bit more discussion before Glorfindel returned to Erestor. “What was all of that about?” asked Erestor, sounding slightly worried.

“Oh, nothing,” he said as he reached for his beverage. It was held just out of his reach.

Erestor was wearing an exasperated expression that Glorfindel felt confident he would continue to see directed to him for years to come. If it meant getting to see those lovely sagey mossy green eyes upon him, he would endure it. “No one walks that far out of their way for nothing.”

Glorfindel sat back down again, and Erestor soon rejoined him. “I just scolded Lindir.”

Eretor lifted a brow. “For daring me to ask you here?” he asked with a bit of concern.

“For not daring you to kiss me,” said Glorfindel. 

Erestor laughed uneasily and handed Glorfindel’s drink back to him. “Oh, but then what would you have to look forward to?” he wondered as he clinked his glass against Glorfindel’s and looked uncertainly in Lindir’s direction.

Glorfindel sipped the wine again, and Erestor mimicked the motion. “Funny thing, though,” said Glorfindel. “I actually just went to thank Lindir, and he seemed very confused.”

“Oh?” asked Erestor, but it sounded as if he knew that Lindir would be confused.

“He confirmed the discussions you had about me today, but said he made no such bet.” Glorfindel waited until Erestor looked up. “He did say that he heard you contemplating something like this a few days ago.”

“Huh. That is so odd. I could have sworn I was dared to do it.” Erestor smirked a little and drank more wine to cover it. “I guess I will just have to make it up to you at yuletide.”


End file.
